Hey Bruiser and Phait & yea it was alphabetical?

To be honest, I don't know enough or trust either of them to care. And then there's the whole electoral college stuff which basically nulls voting far as I know.

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Roland Fantom-S, '97 Fender Strat, Apple Powerbook G4 15", Logic Audio 6

Born loner.

PD and Phait -

This is one tough election for me. I've always claimed myself to be a Republican, and pretty much have always voted along those lines. Dubya, however, is really pushing it with me. I don't trust him, and I believe he is on a crusade to spread our(?) beliefs into the middle east and beyond. Kind of a modern day Ceasar (in my opinion). On the other hand, we have Kerry who doesn't seem to have much of a backbone. He also seems to change his position alot.

Maybe I'll write in Pianodick for Pres, and Phait for VP. Yeah...that's the ticket!


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Phait, Well every one makes their own decisions. I hope you reconsider some day and vote to make a difference.
Bruiser, Yea I agree the choices we have do make the decision tough. I don't think this country can take another four years of Bush/Cheney. But if you write in, make Phait the pres and me the vp cause I don't need that much stress in my life. JMIO

"It is not the anticipated and perfectly performed musical note that singles out for recognition any particular musical performance." ©2004 Pianodick

i dont mean to bash, and for the record i have a slight twist of conservatism in my blood, i also understand business, and corp ideal, BUT...i dont care to be ruled BY the corp,
the current admin is CORP only, all about money...all about paying your pals with blood money and crap, the ruling of the ELITE....
the one thing i have knoticed from most "conservatives" they will get their news from one source, and claim to to be the commandments, no matter how slanted that info is... i have always demanded ALL view points, and all sides, and demand independant media sources, i also take some of the over-hippy drenched banter with the same grain of splenda i do with the warmongering ELITEists.
i have gotten tired of the idiots that counter my protestes of ANY war, with calling me unamerican, and/or saying "then why dont you support our troops"...i didnt say that ...ugg...interesting how the only thing theWB can bring up in adds or during the debates are WAR this WAR that.....mazurah and the terrorists, um, bush...try health care, try school's (by not closing or cutting more), look at home, we are falling apart.....
enough raning

i know my vote is for the lesser of the 2 evils

PS. dont blame americans for bush, we didnt elect him...iraq had a less slanted election than we did..



my train of thought always derails

Migamix -

I have noticed that the hardcore conservatives do tend to get their information from limited sources. There is generally no compromising on their positions also. It's usually their way, or no way. Getting into political arguments with them is mostly always a losing battle. I consider myself definitely to the right of center, but I also listen to reason and recognize facts and data for what they are (I am an Engineer, so that way of thinking is pretty much ingrained in everything I do).

What is so obviously lacking in this election is honesty from either side. A little investigation on the so called facts put forth by both sides quickly show that each (at best) is stretching the truth on many issues. This does not leave me with a comfortable feeling on the ethics of either guy.

Sadly, it's boiling down to whether I vote for the devil I do know (Dubya), or the devil I don't (Kerry). I don't consider either candidate truly worthy of my vote at this time. On the other hand, I really don't want to waste it.

Any further guidance from the wise members of Artemio's community would be greatly appreciated.

(Note: check out www.factcheck.org and www.spinsanity.org for good, unbiased coverage of our choices).

My stuff: http://dhsw.home.comcast.net

Greetings all.

In the past 11 years (since I was of voting age) I was never quite so concerned about politics as I am this election. I've always taken voting seriously and considered its importance to the democratic process, but never felt so strongly as I do this term with respect to the outcome.

I agree with all of you. I don't know much about Mr. Kerry. He strikes me as a typical politician. He'll reflect in his speech whatever is popular among his audience members in order to obtain the highest popularity among them. This, and the repeated assertions by his competitor that he is so, likely lend to the perception that he is indecisive in his decision making. At the same time, Mr. Bush has mislead us with his justifications for offensive action against Iraq (not that Husein was a worthy leader), leading me to mistrust him as much or more than Kerry.

Yes, it really is kind of a vote for a demonstrated bad President or demonstrated typical politician who can be trusted only to follow the whims of whomever he perceives to be the (voting) majority.

To this, though, I say: Isn't that what politicians are supposed to do? Isn't that what we elect them to do? To do what they believe we wish for them to do rather than go off on their own little crusades against the non-believers, spreading "freedom" (by force, no less) throughout the world (is "the sun never sets on the American Empire" to be our motto)? Don't we need someone in the Presidency who actually listens to reason rather than arrogantly defying it ("bring 'em on!")?

I am also strongly concerned about the erosions to our rights through Bush Administration supported legislation such as the "Patriot Act" and the "Patriot Act II". These extraordinarily frightening new laws reverse personal freedoms and privacy to a level never before known to Americans, all in the name of "safety." Freedom can not be sold for safety. How many of us now feel safer knowing that the FBI can legally tap your phone line without a warrant and can request personal information from your local library and credit card companies, none of whom can acknowledge that such requests were even made for fear of legal reprisals, not even to their own legal counsel? Does that make you feel safe? It doesn't make me feel any safer!

Regardless of whether Kerry will make a good President or not, a change is needed in Washington DC. It's unlikely that Kerry could do worse than the current administration.

Regards,

Nathan Sheldon
http://www.nathansheldon.com/

Nathan -

"...To do what they believe we wish for them to do rather than go off on their own little crusades..."

And you feel that this is what John Kerry will do or that this is what he has done in his tenure as a senator?

Migamix -

"...the one thing i have knoticed from most "conservatives" they will get their news from one source, and claim to to be the commandments, no matter how slanted that info is..."

Can't the same be said for "most 'liberals'"? I guess we all suffer from that horrible human trait of wishing more to encounter that which validates what we already believe than to embrace truth, regardless of how it makes us feel.

Hi Flowing.

I was referring to Bush's Middle East "crusades." I'm not aware of any similar (or nearly as divisive around the world) activities by Mr. Kerry.

You are certainly correct. It's a known phenomenon of social psychology that, indeed, people tend to look for confirming evidence to premises they believe are correct and tend to ignore information to the contrary. Knowing this, I try to accept and search for impartial information, but must admit that I'm not totally immune to this behavior either. It is important to be aware of it though.

Regards,

Nathan Sheldon
http://www.nathansheldon.com/

I think it is great that in this small section of the population we have basically a split. I think that the state of affairs local as well as international and the state of the economy should be Bush's defeat. From the time he took office the stock market has tanked, the business venue is full of Enron and Williams Company scoundrels and carpet baggers that are still eluding prosecution while Marthat Stewart is doing "hard time", Cheney is spending tax money to sustain his estate with money from every corner of the globe all at the expense of the american tax payer. After all this they still hold the attention of approximately half the voting populus. Wake up Bushy Head! Unless you make 7± figures a year or more you are backing the wrong boy. Think, four years ago record surplus, today the fourth record deficit in as many years. I personally don't feel any safer than I felt 8 years ago. They report failures in all these "Patriotic" plans in the news at least once a day, gas is unbelievably expensive and I came from the gas rationing days of the 70's. All while I am typing this they can "lawfully" monitor every word I type and Will probably contact me soon for typing such characters. I THOUGHT THE BERLIN WALL FELL JMIO

"It is not the anticipated and perfectly performed musical note that singles out for recognition any particular musical performance." ©2004 Pianodick

"Knowing this, I try to accept and search for impartial information, but must admit that I'm not totally immune to this behavior either. It is important to be aware of it though."

Well put, Nathan. I agree that simply being aware of this tendency we have, along with desiring to overcome it to whatever extent possible, is crucial to arriving at "truth".